Tanzania Human Resource Capacity Project—Quarterly Report, April—June 2012

The project aims to improve the availability, accessibility, and quality of health services in Tanzania by addressing the critical shortage of health workers and improving the management of the health workforce. The project has made significant progress in implementing its activities as planned. One of the key highlights of the quarter is the finalization of the Multi-sectoral Criteria for Defining Underserved Areas report, which will serve as the basis for the development of a generic incentive package for districts. The report has been submitted to the Prime Minister's Office Public Service Management (PO-PSM) for review and comment. In close collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW), IntraHealth facilitated an assessment of the social welfare workforce to establish the workforce situation and composition in Tanzania, including the policy and legal environment. The consultant team drafted the report for review and comment by the SWW Sub-committee and has submitted the final report to DSW. A stakeholder's dissemination meeting is planned for late August. The project has also made significant progress in district HRH strengthening and development. BMAF conducted additional analysis of the information and data collected from the February coaching visits to 34 districts of the Lake Zone and Ruvuma regions. The analysis revealed that 34 councils have oriented new staff with 20 percent using the HRH orientation package. The average retention rate in the 34 districts is 79%, and 40 percent of these districts are implementing work climate activities to attract and retain new staff. BMAF facilitated three HRH Best Practice/Knowledge Sharing workshops in Mara, Shinyanga, and Kagera. HRH Supportive supervision was conducted in all 54 districts using the developed HRH guide. Reports will be submitted in the next quarter. Usage of the HRM supportive supervision checklist has increased by more than 50% as compared to 2010/11. The project has also made significant progress in establishing a functional comprehensive human resource information system (HRIS). CSSC with IMA technical assistance (and IntraHealth and BMAF trainers) facilitated an HRM training strongly focused on the link with HRIS utilization. Participants were from the CSSC Eastern zone, APHFTA coastal zone, and select Bakwata health facilities. The THRP leveraged technical support from the CapacityPlus project. CSSC also conducted follow-up training for data verification, quality, and utilization to Tosamaganga DDH, Sumve DDH, Mbalizi CDH, and Nyakahanga DDH. CSSC HQ and the Southern zone office have started utilizing data as a result of training 17 staff members in data use in March 2012. UDSM and the PMO-RALG M&E team reviewed data entry and quality in the Lake and Northern Zone districts. The data is now aggregated and centralized in PMO-RALG's server. The project has also made significant progress in developing a cadre of para-social workers. IntraHealth facilitated a field visit to Kwimba, Magu, and Mwanza City by DSW, PMO-RALG, USAID, and ISW representatives to better understand the MVC/PSW program, identify best practices, and areas for improvement. The findings are part of an overarching Program Review to be shared during a stakeholders meeting in July. The project has also made significant progress in other areas, including the development of a national advocacy and communication strategy for human resources, the analysis of the 2010/2011 Comprehensive Council Health Plans (CCHPs) for all 54 THRP districts, and the finalization of the Work Climate Initiative assessment. The project has also trained 14 students to provide backup support in LGHRIS administration, maintenance, and support, including programming basics in using LGHRIS' Ubuntu system. Overall, the project has made significant progress in implementing its activities as planned and has achieved several key milestones. The project continues to work towards its goal of improving the availability, accessibility, and quality of health services in Tanzania by addressing the critical shortage of health workers and improving the management of the health workforce.